Plot
Emma Allan and Olivia "Liv" Lerner are childhood best friends. Ever since they witnessed a wedding 20 years ago at the Plaza Hotel, they have dreamed of holding their own June weddings there.
Liv's parents died when she was a child. She grows up to be a successful attorney at Ropes & Gray. She's used to getting her way, and attempts to be perfect. Her boyfriend, Daniel Williams, is a hedge fund manager.
Emma becomes a middle school teacher who takes care of everyone, but sometimes forgets to take care of herself. Her boyfriend of ten years, Fletcher Flemson, is controlling, and takes advantage of her compliant, meek nature.
One day Emma and Liv find a Tiffany box concealed in Liv's closet. Both are excited, believing it means Liv's boyfriend Daniel is about to propose. But that night, it's Fletcher who proposes. Liv confronts Daniel at his office the next morning. It turns out he had planned to propose that night, but he then asks her on the spot.
Emma and Liv schedule a meeting with New York's most famous wedding planner, Marion St. Claire, who tells them there are only three spots open at The Plaza in June: two at the same time on June 6 and one on June 27. They each choose a different date so their big days will not clash. However, both are scheduled for June 6 by mistake.
They ask the third bride, Stacey, to switch her date with Emma, but she refuses. Liv fights with Stacey as she is registering for gifts, causing Liv and Emma to be escorted out of the store. After a week of passive-aggressive hostility, it is clear that neither will compromise.
The women declare war after a slight misunderstanding that Liv already announced her wedding date, outraging Emma who then sets her date as well, which Liv discovers at their shared bridal shower. They threaten and insult each other in front of their friends, who decide not to take sides.
Both attempt to sabotage the other's wedding. Liv changes Emma's dance instructor; Emma secretly sends Liv candy so her dress won't fit; Liv makes Emma's spray tan bright orange; Emma changes Liv's hair dye to a shocking blue; Liv registers Emma on Babies R Us and spreads rumors that she is pregnant; Emma shows up to Liv's invite-only bachelorette party and outdances her.
Emma and Fletcher argue over her behavior. Fletcher cannot accept her newfound outspokenness and self-confidence. In contrast, Liv has learned to be more sensitive and expressive and has drawn closer to Daniel. However, her stress about the wedding causes her demotion at work.
At the Plaza shortly before their ceremonies, Emma's father gives Liv his blessing, causing her to regret setting up a wild spring break DVD to play at Emma's ceremony. She sends her assistant Kevin to replace the DVD with the original one, filled with childhood memories. Believing it is a prank, he does not do it.
Before the brides enter their respective venues, they share a brief moment of reconciliation from afar, smiling at each other. Liv's smile is confident, but Emma's is tinged with tears, suggesting she is having second thoughts about her fiance.
Emma begins walking down the aisle but stops when the wild DVD is played. Losing it, she tackles Liv at her wedding on the other side. Wrestling in their dresses on the floor, they shock the guests.
Emma tells Fletcher she is not the same person he fell in love with 10 years ago. With that, they call off their wedding. Liv's wedding resumes after they reconcile. Emma, now Liv's maid of honor, later dances with Liv's brother Nate, a well-known magazine journalist.
A year later, Liv and Emma meet up for drinks, where it's revealed that Emma married Nate. She offers a toast to marriage but Emma says she's not drinking. When Liv says she's not either, they realise they are both pregnant and their due dates are the same: March 3. The best friends squeal with excitement and hug happily.
Reception
Box office
In its opening weekend, the film grossed $21.1 million, ranking at number 2 at the box office. [1] It went on to gross $58.7 million in the United States and Canada, $56.7 million in other countries, for a total of $115.4 million worldwide. [1]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 10% based on 146 reviews, with an average rating of 3.50/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Bride Wars takes the already wearisome concept of battling bridezillas, and makes it thoroughly insufferable via a lazy script and wholly detestable characters." [9] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 24 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [10] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale. [11] Time named it one of the top 10 worst chick flicks ever made. [12]
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the film "dopey, if largely painless". She said that Hathaway's presence meant "that there's a little acting in it, along with a few human emotions" and wondered what the film might have been if the writers had explored a potential lesbian subtext suggested by the opening scenes. [13] Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, "How bad can a movie be, with Goldilocks Hudson and Cinderella Hathaway? So excruciating that Hudson's sunshine can't warm it and Hathaway's rose redolence can't mask its stink." [14] Ty Burr of The Boston Globe was disturbed by the film, claiming that it was "...a chick flick that makes its chick characters — and by extension its chick audience — look like hateful, backward toddlers, and there is something wrong with that." [15]
Longtime BBC Radio 5 Live critic Mark Kermode was notably harsh toward the film on his Kermode and Mayo's Film Review show, going so far as to say that he would quit film criticism if Bride Wars did not end up in his list of 10 worst films of 2009. [16] By the end of the year, even when Kermode included Terminator Salvation and Couples Retreat on his list by popular demand, Bride Wars still finished eighth, allowing him to keep his job. [17]
In one of the few positive reviews of the film, Time critic Mary Pols wrote, "At least, and this is something to be grateful for, Bride Wars deviates from the usual wedding-flick routine of maids of honor who should be the bride (or groom). And even though the catfighting goes over the top, the notion that a passionate female friendship can turn ugly in a heartbeat is, sadly, realistic." [18]
